Just got my oystercard statement, and it has changed to include a box
for auto-topup status, which suggests that this may be launched
sometime soon.

Matthew Dickinson wrote:
Just got my oystercard statement, and it has changed to include a box
for auto-topup status, which suggests that this may be launched
sometime soon.

That's very interesting. There's a similar 'auto-refill' system
available on the new easyMobile Pay-As-You-Go mobile phone network,
where when you're balance falls below £2 then it is automatically
topped up by a preset amount from your stored credit/debit card.

Obviously if an Oyster auto-topup system is implemented, then the new
balance would only be loaded to your card when you passed through the
gates at your nominated Tube station, as happens at present when you
top-up your card online.

As well as being useful for some travellers, if an auto-topup system
was introduced this would add to the potential appeal of Oyster as an
e-Money system, as it'd ensure that Oyster card holders never ran out
of credit when they want to buy a newspaper/pint of milk etc.

TfL press release on the potential Oyster e-Money scheme:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-cent...nt.asp?prID=14

On 28 Jul 2005 03:06:46 -0700, "Mizter T" wrote:

That's very interesting. There's a similar 'auto-refill' system
available on the new easyMobile Pay-As-You-Go mobile phone network,
where when you're balance falls below £2 then it is automatically
topped up by a preset amount from your stored credit/debit card.

Obviously if an Oyster auto-topup system is implemented, then the new
balance would only be loaded to your card when you passed through the
gates at your nominated Tube station, as happens at present when you
top-up your card online.

As well as being useful for some travellers, if an auto-topup system
was introduced this would add to the potential appeal of Oyster as an
e-Money system, as it'd ensure that Oyster card holders never ran out
of credit when they want to buy a newspaper/pint of milk etc.

TfL press release on the potential Oyster e-Money scheme:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-cent...nt.asp?prID=14

Is it potentially possible foy Oyster pre-pay to be topped up when
using a bus Oyster reader? I can't use my Oyster on the tube cos I get
priv fares, but the top-idea sounds a good idea.

wrote:
snip
Is it potentially possible foy Oyster pre-pay to be topped up when
using a bus Oyster reader?

AIUI this isn't really a feasible idea. The problem is that every
Oyster reader on every bus would have to be programmed with every
potential Oyster users Pre Pay top-up. The number of users (both now
and the potential for many millions more in the future) means the
on-board bus Oyster readers couldn't handle this.

Even if you were to nominate a bus route, this is still impractical.
There are many hundreds of buses that may ply a particular route over
the 7 days that your Pre Pay would be available to pick up, and the
Oyster readers couldn't hold this much information.

There would also be logistical problems when it came to uplinking all
of London's buses every night in a way that'd ensure they all had the
right data for the next day on time.

Even when topping up Pre Pay online and collecting it at a tube
station, you must nominate a station through which you'll travel, and
if you want it available the next day you must top-up online by 11pm
that night in order to ensure the information gets there on time.

See the 'Ask Oyster' website answer he http://tinyurl.com/byv3k


I can't use my Oyster on the tube cos I get priv fares, but the top-idea
sounds a good idea.

What are priv fares?

As well as being useful for some travellers, if an auto-topup system
was introduced this would add to the potential appeal of Oyster as an
e-Money system, as it'd ensure that Oyster card holders never ran out
of credit when they want to buy a newspaper/pint of milk etc.

Personally, I think that this would lessen the appeal.
If you lost it you might just as well have handed someone
your house keys and said "take what you like"

tim

tim (moved to sweden) wrote:
As well as being useful for some travellers, if an auto-topup system
was introduced this would add to the potential appeal of Oyster as an
e-Money system, as it'd ensure that Oyster card holders never ran out
of credit when they want to buy a newspaper/pint of milk etc.

Personally, I think that this would lessen the appeal.
If you lost it you might just as well have handed someone
your house keys and said "take what you like"

tim

No - because when you lose your Oyster card, you call the Oyster card
helpline and they block your lost card from being used, then send you a
new one. The new one would be the recipient of the auto-topup credit
from then on, as well as having whatever balance from your lost card
transferred over onto it.

Is it potentially possible foy Oyster pre-pay to be topped up when
using a bus Oyster reader? I can't use my Oyster on the tube cos I get
priv fares, but the top-idea sounds a good idea.

The automatic top-up seems OK as long as there are some checks and balances
involved, such as limits to how often the top-up can be applied and perhaps
an SMS sent out every time it is applied, just in case cards fall into the
wrong hands.

However if this is the case more has to be done to assist people in
collecting the top-up. I mostly use my Oyster on buses and trams and simply
don't use it on tube gates on a regular basis and I know many are in the
same boat. It would certainly help me if tube stations had Oyster readers
whose sole function was to allow passengers to check the status of their
Oyster cards and collect any top-up. I pass through tube stations quite
regularly but only use paper tickets on the gates.

Mizter T wrote:
snip
No - because when you lose your Oyster card, you call the Oyster card
helpline and they block your lost card from being used, then send you a
new one. The new one would be the recipient of the auto-topup credit
from then on, as well as having whatever balance from your lost card
transferred over onto it.


Yes, but I doubt if they would pay for any purchases made on your lost
card before you informed them that it was missing. I think most banks
and credit card companies will, providing the user has not been negligent.

In message , at 19:54:12 on
Thu, 28 Jul 2005, Graham J remarked:
It would certainly help me if tube stations had Oyster readers
whose sole function was to allow passengers to check the status of their
Oyster cards and collect any top-up.

Such readers are already attached to ticket machines at tube stations.
--
Roland Perry

Paul wrote:
Mizter T wrote:
snip
No - because when you lose your Oyster card, you call the Oyster card
helpline and they block your lost card from being used, then send you a
new one. The new one would be the recipient of the auto-topup credit
from then on, as well as having whatever balance from your lost card
transferred over onto it.


Yes, but I doubt if they would pay for any purchases made on your lost
card before you informed them that it was missing. I think most banks
and credit card companies will, providing the user has not been negligent.

Different banks have differing policies, but yes, as long as you
haven't been negligent and tell them sharpish it seems they'll cover
the cost.

The point here though is that if you lose your Oyster card, it'd be
more akin to losing cash rather than a credit/debit card (which IMO
isn't really the same as giving someone the keys to your house and
saying 'take what you like'!). The person who steals it can only spend
the amount on it, and the system is not designed for you to have a
large balance loaded to your card. I don't know whether there's a limit
to the amount of money you can load on your card when doing so in
person, but there's a £50 maximum when you do so online.

If you were to use the auto-topup system, I'm sure there would be a
similar limit as to the amount the system would take from your
credit/debit card to add to your Oyster card, and if you were concerned
about loss you could make this a lower sum (say £10 or £20 when
needed).

Ultimately, I think that many would find it useful, but of course if
anyone was worried about it then they don't have to use the system.
Indeed I wouldn't recommend it to one of my scatterbrained friends. She
doesn't trust herself with a monthly Travelcard so buys a weekly one,
and she manages to lose an average of at least one a month. She doesn't
have an Oyster card, which is just as well as I reckon the Oyster
system couldn't cope with such consistant incompetence!